Introduction

Welcome toChild Abuse:Working with Abused & Neglected
Children,an interactive
computer-based instruction course, designed to help you identify and
effectively teach students affected by child abuse and/or neglect. This
course discusses the identification of physical, emotional, and sexual† abuse; the impact of abuse on the behavior and
learning abilities of students; the responsibilities of a teacher to report
abuse or provide assistance to students who are the victims of abuse; and
methods for teaching students about abuse of all types and its prevention.
It also discusses the specific factors that exist in families who abuse or
neglect their children. A major emphasis in this course is on helping the
participant understand the special learning needs of the abused or neglected
child, and how to meet those needs in the regular classroom. Working with
parents and community agencies is also emphasized.

This course meets the child abuse and neglect educational
requirement in most states.† It is the
responsibility of the student to verify the course content with your specific
state professional licensing agency to ensure proper credit.

This computer-based
instruction course is a self-supporting program that provides instruction,
structured practice, and evaluation all on yourhome
or school computer.† Technical support
information can be found in the Help section of your course.

Academic
Integrity Statement

The structure
and format of most distance-learning courses presume a high level of personal
and academic integrity in completion and submission of coursework. Individuals
enrolled in a distance-learning course are expected to adhere to the following
standards of academic conduct.

Academic Work

Academic
work submitted by the individual (such as papers, assignments, reports, tests)
shall be the studentís own work or appropriately attributed, in part or in
whole, to its correct source. Submission of commercially prepared (or group
prepared) materials as if they are oneís own work is unacceptable.

Aiding Honesty in Others

The
individual will encourage honesty in others by refraining from providing
materials or information to another person with knowledge that these materials
or information will be used improperly.

Violations of
these academic standards will result in the assignment of a failing grade and
subsequent loss of credit for the course.

This
course is designed to be an informational course with application to
educational settings. The intervention strategies are designed to be used for
the remediation of abused or neglected students ranging in age from
approximately three years to adolescence. Some alterations may be needed if
working with specific populations such as gifted, ESL or special education.

Course Description

This
course is designed to help classroom teachers, school counselors and other
educational personnel gain strategies to reach and teach students who have been
affected by child abuse or neglect.†
Participants will learn the signs and symptoms for the three types of
abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual) and the four types of neglect (physical,
medical, emotional, and educational).†
Participants will explore how abuse and neglect affect a studentís
learning, cognitive brain development and social-emotional development.† The short- and long-term consequences of
neglect as well as the social and family causes will be reviewed.† The educatorís role in the intervention and
prevention of child abuse and neglect will be discussed.†

The
course is divided into four chapters.†
Each chapter discusses a particular topic of abuse or neglect.† The chapters are sequential and should be completed
in the order they are presented.† At the
completion of each chapter, there will be an examination covering the material.
Students must complete the examination before proceeding to the next chapter.† In some of the examinations, questions will
involve case studies to provide further practice in the application of
knowledge.† This course is appropriate
for educators seeking training in working with children ages 3-18 years, as
well as professionalswho work directly with
families.

Although
this course is a comprehensive presentation of the educational issues
surrounding abuse and neglect, there is certainly a wealth of research and
topics that are not covered in the scope of this course.† The instructor highly recommends that you
augment your readings from this course with further research to gain a fuller
understanding of the complexities of this subject.† However, the material presented in this
course will give you a broader understanding of the topic of child abuse and
neglect.† It will also give you
information to apply directly to your work with students in the classroom and
community.

Student
Expectations†

∑Complete all examinations, showing a competent understanding of the
material presented.

∑Complete a review of any chapter on which your examination score was
below 70%.

Retake any
examination, after completing an information review, to increase that
examination score to a minimum of 70% (maximum of three attempts). *Please note: Minimum exam score requirements may vary
by college or university; therefore, you should refer to your course
addendum to determine what your minimum exam score requirements are.

∑Complete all course journal article and essay
writing assignments with the minimum word count shown for each writing
assignment.

Chapter Topics

Chapter One:† Introduction, History &
Characteristics†

This chapter will
introduce the participant to the course topic by a discussion of the working
definitions and the statistical magnitude of the problem of child abuse and
neglect.† A short history of how child
maltreatment has evolved is included as well as a discussion of the educatorís
role in the reporting, treatment and prevention of child abuse and neglect in
society.† This chapter will also discuss
the family factors involved in the incidence of child abuse and neglect,
including personal factors and environmental/societal factors.

Chapter
Two:†
Indications & Types of Abuse

This chapter will present the physical and behavioral signs
and symptoms of physical and emotional child abuse.† It will discuss the types of emotional abuse,
and define and present the physical and behavioral symptoms of sexual
abuse.† It will also discuss the stages
of normal sexual development as well as how to handle disclosures of sexual
abuse.

Chapter Three:† Neglect: Types, Causes & Interventions

This
chapter will discuss the physical and behavioral symptoms of the four types of
neglect (physical, medical, emotional, and educational).† The role patterns children of neglect often
exhibit and the causes of neglect, including poverty, are presented.†

Chapter Four:† The
Effects of Neglect

†In this chapter the long-term effects of child
abuse and neglect on a childís social, emotional and personality development
will be discussed.† Participants will
read a research article on the effects of maltreatment on bonding and
attachment.† The social and emotional
traits of specific age groups of maltreated children will be discussed, as well
as the effects of foster placement on the child and family.† Also included in the final chapter, the information
learned in the previous three chapters is applied specifically to methods for
reaching and teaching students who have been abused or neglected.† Barriers schools create for families are
discussed as well as interventions for meeting the studentís physical,
cognitive and social-emotional needs at school.†
The course ends with a discussion of the educatorís role in the
intervention, treatment, and prevention of child abuse and neglect.

Examinations

At
the end of each course chapter, you will be expected to complete an examination
designed to assess your knowledge. You may take these exams a total of three
times.† Your last score will save, not
the highest score.† After your third
attempt, each examination will lock and not allow further access.† The
average from your exam scores will be printed on your certificate.† However, this is not your final grade since
your required writing assignments have not been reviewed.† Exceptionally written or poorly written
required writing assignments, or violation of the academic integrity policy in
the course syllabus, will affect your grade. As this is a self-paced computerized
instruction program, you may review course information as often as necessary.
You will not be able to exit any examinations until you have answered all
questions. If you try to exit the exam before you complete all questions, your
information will be lost. You are expected to complete the entire exam in one
sitting.

This course has
two required writing components.† ALL ASSIGNMENTS ARE REVIEWED. Exceptionally or poorly written assignments, or
violation of the academic integrity policy noted in the course syllabus, will
affect your grade. Be sure to refer to
the Grading Guidelines for Writing Assignments,
sent as an attachment with your original course link.

It is highly recommended that you write and save all
writing assignments in an external word processing program (such as Word or
Notepad), and then copy and paste these into the course program so that you
will have backup copies.

To
save your essays:

When you select the question
or article you wish to respond to, ĎSimple Textí or ĎText Edití will launch
automatically. When you are finished entering your response, simply click
SAVE.†

You must SAVE before you write another essay or move
on to another part of the course.

1)†Essay Requirement: Critical Thinking
Questions

There are four Critical Thinking Questions that you
must complete. You will do research on the questions and write brief essay responses relating it to the course content
(and your personal experiences, when possible).†
To view the questions, click on REQUIRED ESSAY and choose the Critical
Thinking Question that you are ready to complete; this will bring up a screen
where you may enter your essay.† You must
write a minimum of 500 words (maximum 1,000) per essay.† You may go back at any point to edit your
essays, but you must be certain to click SAVE once you have completed your
edits.

You must
SAVE before you write another essay or move on to another part of the course.

2)†† Essay Requirement: Journal Articles

This task
requires you to write a review of three peer-reviewed or scholarly journal
articles, preferably written by an author with a Ph.D. (blogs and news articles
are not acceptable) of your choice on a topic related to this course.† You may choose your topic by entering the Key
Words (click on the Key Words button) into a search engine of your choice
(Bing, Google, Yahoo, etc.).† Choose
three relevant articles and write a critical summary of the information given
in each article, explaining how the information relates to, supports, or
refutes information given in this course. Conclude your review with your
thoughts and impressions (200 words per journal article minimum, 400 words
maximum). Be sure to provide the journal name, volume, date, and any other
critical information to allow the instructor to access and review that article.

To write your essays, click on REQUIRED ESSAY and
choose the Journal Article that you would like to complete; this will bring up
a screen where you can write your review. When you are ready to stop, clickSAVE.† You may go back at any point to edit your
essays, but you must be certain to click SAVE once you are done with your
edits. For more information on the features of this assignment, please consult
the HELP menu.

You must
SAVE before you write another essay or move on to another part of the course.

Facilitator
Description

Joan Halverstadt is
a Special Services Director and School Psychologist in a school district.† She has fifteen
yearsí experience as a school counselor, working with at-risk preschool
and elementary aged students.† Ms.
Halverstadt has forty years of experience working in early childhood education
with children and families, including working with children affected by family
issues, abuse, or trauma.† She also
teaches graduate education counseling and special education courses for
teachers and counselors. She received her National Certification and School
Psychology Educational Specialist degree from Seattle University, her School
Counseling Educational Staff Associate Degree from City University, her
Masterís in Education Degree from George Mason University, and her BA in
Psychology and Elementary Education from Whitman College. Please contact Professor Halverstadt if you have course
content or examination questions.

Instructor Description

Pamela Bernards
has 30 years of combined experience in diverse PK-8 and high school settings as
a teacher and an administrator.† In
addition to these responsibilities, she was the founding director of a K-8
after school care program and founder of a pre-school program for infants to
4-year-olds.† When she was a principal,
her school was named a U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School of
Excellence.† More recently, the school in
which she serves as curriculum coordinator was named a 2010 BlueRibbonSchool.† Areas of interest include curriculum,
research-based teaching practices, staff development, assessment, data-driven
instruction, and instructional intervention (remediation and
gifted/talented).† She received a
doctorate in Leadership and Professional Practice from Trevecca Nazarene
University.

Please contact Professor Halverstadt if you
have course content or examination questions.

Contacting
the Facilitator

You may contact the facilitator by emailing
Professor Halverstadt at joanh@virtualeduc.com
or calling her 509-891-7219, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. PST.
Phone messages will be answered within 24 hours. Phone conferences will be limited to ten minutes per student, per
day, given that this is a self-paced instructional program. Please do not
contact the instructor about technical problems, course glitches or other
issues that involve the operation of the course.

Technical Questions

If you
have questions or problems related to the operation of this course, please try
everything twice. If the problem persists please check our support pages for
FAQs and known issues at www.virtualeduc.com†and also the Help section of your
course.

If you
need personal assistance then email support@virtualeduc.com
or call (509) 891-7219.† When contacting
technical support, please know your course version number (it is located at the
bottom left side of the Welcome Screen) and your operating system, and be
seated in front of the computer at the time of your call.†

Minimum Computer Requirements

Please refer to VESiís
website: www.virtualeduc.com or
contact VESi if you have further questions about the compatibility of your
operating system.

Refer to the
addendum regarding Grading Criteria, Course Completion Information, Items to be
Submitted and how to submit your completed information. The addendum will also
note any additional course assignments that you may be required to complete
thatare not listed in this syllabus.

Course content is updated every
three years. Due to this update timeline, some URL links may no longer be
active or may have changed. Please type the title of the organization into the
command line of any Internet browser search window and you will be able to find
whether the URL link is still active or any new link to the corresponding
organization's web home page.

Hibbard, R.,
Desch, L., & Committee on Child Abuse & Neglect and Council on Children
with Disabilities. (2007). Maltreatment of children with disabilities. Pediatrics, 119(5), 1018-1025. Retrieved from

Washington
Department of Social and Health Services, Childrenís Administration. (2012). Protecting the abused and neglected child: A
guide for mandated reporters in recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect.
Olympia, WA. Retrieved from http://www.dshs.wa.gov/pdf/Publications/22-163.pdf